Shell and Powder Guide

Shell comparison

Shell	Damage	Radius	Projectiles	Default charge	Max charge	Best use
AP	2	0.15	1	3	6	Small-burst penetrator for hard or fortified targets.
HCHE	1	0.55	1	3	6	Large burst shell for clustered targets and overpressure.
HE	1	0.25	1	3	6	Standard fragmentation shell for common enemy targets.
STAR	0	0.2	1	3	6	Illumination shell for missions that need light rather than blast.
Smoke	1	1	1	3	6	Smoke utility shell for screening or mission-specific effects.

Powder charge ranges

Each shell lists charge ranges because the loader and calculator have to agree. For the active demo shells, charges scale range while the shell's damage, radius, projectile count, and dispersion shape the ideal target.

Calculator math

The firing calculator validates the chosen shell and powder charge, clamps only near-edge range entries, then maps range linearly into the gun elevation range.

1. Read the desired range from the range dial and the charge from the powder dial.
2. Round the powder dial to a whole charge and clamp it to charges 1 through 6.
3. Look up the shell range band for that charge. If the exact charge is missing, use the nearest defined charge band for that shell.
4. Reject the shot if the desired range is farther than the shell's range band plus the configured tolerance.
5. If the desired range is just outside the band but still inside tolerance, clamp it to the nearest edge and mark the solution as clamped.
6. Compute elevation from the clamped range by linear interpolation between the shell's minimum and maximum range for that charge.

• Pick the lowest charge whose maximum range reaches the solved target; higher charge is not automatically more accurate.
• A value slightly beyond a charge edge can still calculate, but the resulting card is clamped to the edge of that charge's band.
• If the calculator refuses a shot, changing charge is the first fix because the range band is charge-dependent.
• The elevation number is a position between the selected charge's minimum and maximum range, not a separate ballistic curve.

Simple rule

• HE is the standard answer for infantry and general targets.
• HCHE is for larger blast coverage when the target group is clustered.
• AP is for hard targets such as bunkers, caches, or artillery positions.
• SMK and STAR are utility shells: smoke and illumination, not raw damage picks.